By Dale Minyo and Dusty Sonnenberg, CCA and Field Leader, a project of the Ohio Soybean Council and Soybean Check-off
At press time, the likelihood of a Canadian rail strike is extremely high. The union representing Canadian rail workers (The Teamsters Canada Rail Conference) has threatened a strike that would begin as early as Monday, August 26.thafter initially complying with the federal government’s demands to end a work stoppage at the country’s two largest freight railways.
“A rail strike in Canada would have a significant impact on U.S. farmers,” said Mike Steenhoek, executive director of the Soy Transportation Coalition. “We’ve seen for several days now that the railroad is shutting down certain services because they don’t want to send a train that has to deliver cargo 3-4 days away, make that delivery, and then return to a safe location where the locomotive and train concept can be parked. We’re already seeing the impact of this across Canada’s freight network. This affects goods moving from Canada to the United States and from the United States to Canada. It’s also concerning because we in the United States don’t have much influence over the Canadian government.
The Soy Transportation Coalition has been actively trying to prevent a strike. “Agricultural transportation companies and organizations like the Soy Transportation Coalition have written to the Canadian federal government and Prime Minister Trudeau’s office, urging him to intervene if the two parties cannot reach an acceptable agreement,” Steenhoek said. “So far, the Canadian federal government has refused to intervene, so we in the United States do not have the leverage over the Canadian government that we have here in the United States.”
“Canadian businesses and industries are imploring their government to intervene,” Steenhoek said. “Unfortunately, the Canadian federal government has refused to intervene, so it is becoming increasingly likely that there will be some kind of shutdown for some time. Hopefully this will not be permanent.”
It is not yet known how long the rail strike might last. “It simply depends on how much pain is inflicted on the various parties and when someone finally gives in and reaches an agreement. It depends on whether that is one of the two parties or whether the government decides to intervene,” said Steenhoek.
A rail strike in Canada would not directly affect U.S. rail workers. “The strike potential is indirectly important to our industry. It would impact transportation within the U.S. because the railroads in the U.S. and rail workers in this country work under a separate contract,” Steenhoek said. “That includes Canadian National and Canadian Pacific, Kansas City, which have significant routes in the U.S. That’s a separate rail contract that was reinstated a few years ago. That doesn’t impact transportation here in the U.S., but it does when something comes from the U.S. and goes to Canada or comes from Canada and goes to the U.S..”
“For U.S. soybean meal, Canada is our fourth largest export market,” said Steenhoek. “We export $614,000,000 worth of U.S. soybean meal to Canada each year. Canada is also the largest U.S. export customer for soybean oil, valued at $106 million. A lot of fertilizer is produced in Canada and shipped to the U.S.”
Canadian ports are also important. “We export some soybeans, soy products and grains through Canadian ports, particularly in British Columbia,” said Steenhoek. “This is a problem for our industry and we obviously hope that the two parties will come to an agreement as soon as possible and avoid any kind of prolonged disruption to services.”
